The Charge

"I suppose you're wondering about the money in Mr. Lawson's cello
case." "It's only natural that you should." "I
don't think we told you that, uh, Mr. Lawson sold his Butcher shop in
Hammersmith..." "He got the cash for it because there wasn't
time to, um, to write a cheque."

Opening Statement

Ealing Studios had a long and generally distinguished history as one of the
British film industry's most well-known components. The company had its origins
in 1902 when the pioneering British filmmaker Will Barker bought two houses in
Ealing, a suburb of London. He began filming in the area and then in 1907, built
a covered stage. Barker built up an Ealing stock company that would help to make
viewers identify with the British character of his product as distinct from
American films of the time and their increasing emphasis on a star system. The
First World War, however, caused problems for many companies in Britain and
Ealing was no exception. The company languished in the 1920s and eventually went
into receivership in 1929.

Ealing was resurrected when another company, Associated Talking Pictures,
bought the site to be its new base. Under the direction of Basil Dean, the new
Ealing company limped through the early years of the 1930s before it started to
click with films starring the likes of Gracie Fields and later, George Formby.
In 1938, Dean resigned as head of production and was replaced by Michael Balcon
who had previously headed up production for Gaumont-British and more recently,
for a British component of MGM.

It was under Balcon's tenure (1938-1959) that Ealing developed its flair for
compact comedies that were distinctly British in flavour and that tended to
glorify the small, the individual, the unusual, and the down-to-earth at the
expense of the large, the establishment, the conventional, and the pretentious.
In this regard, the company first hit its stride after World War II with Hue
and Cry (1947), Passport to Pimlico (1949), and Whisky Galore!
(1949), but it would be a handful of comedies starring Alec Guinness that would
give Ealing the reputation that it retains to this day, despite ending
production over 40 years ago.

Anchor Bay has now packaged four of Guinness's Ealing comedies (Kind
Hearts and Coronets, The Ladykillers, The Lavender Hill Mob,
and The Man in the White Suit) along with a comedy that he did for London
Films (The Captain's Paradise) in a box set of DVDs called The Alec
Guinness Collection. The four Ealing films can also be purchased separately,
but the London Films title is only available as part of the set.

Facts of the Case

Kind Hearts and Coronets -- Louis Mazzini is ninth in line to inherit
the Dukedom of Chalfont, as a result of his mother having married against her
family's (the D'Ascoynes) wishes. Finding the route to financial comfort slow in
his chosen occupation, Louis decides to improve his situation by murdering, one
by one, all those between him and the Dukedom. As the number of people between
him and his goal of becoming the Duke diminishes, Louis must also decide on a
suitable woman to be his eventual Duchess -- either his childhood sweetheart,
Sibella, or Edith D'Ascoyne, the wife of one of his victims.

The Lavender Hill Mob -- Henry Holland has looked after the movement
of gold bullion for the bank where he works for years. Seemingly a mild-mannered
innocent, he secretly plots to steal a valuable shipment, but is unable to
figure out how to get the gold out of the country once stolen. He meets up with
Mr. Pendlebury, who runs a company that manufactures tourist souvenirs. Once he
sees Mr. Pendlebury's operation, Henry realizes that therein lays the solution
to his problem. The stolen gold can be melted down, turned into souvenir statues
of the Eiffel Tower, and shipped to Paris. Enlisting Pendlebury's aid along with
two other accomplices, the gang successfully carries out its plan and travels to
Paris to take delivery of the statues. Once there, however, they discover that
some of their statues have accidentally been sold to a group of English
schoolgirls as real souvenirs. Holland and Pendlebury head back to England in a
desperate attempt to retrieve the statues before someone realizes they're made
of gold and informs the police.

The Man in the White Suit -- Sidney Stratton is a young chemist who
manages to invent a cloth that will be indestructible and un-soilable. Textile
owner Alan Birnley, who has been financing Stratton's work, is delighted and
plans to manufacture clothing made from Stratton's product. Before he can begin,
however, other textile owners corner Birnley and make him realize that what he
plans would be the end of the textile industry -- that once everyone has a new
indestructible suit, they won't ever need to buy another. The textile workers
also see the invention as meaning the end of their jobs. Together, the two
groups hold Stratton prisoner as they try to get him to agree to suppress his
invention, but Stratton escapes and the chase is on.

The Captain's Paradise -- Captain Henry St. James runs a passenger
ferry between Gibraltar and Morocco. For St. James it is his ideal life, for in
Gibraltar he has a wife named Maud, and in Morocco a second wife named Nita.
Maud is a stay-at-home wife who caters to Henry's every whim. While in
Gibraltar, Henry maintains a strict schedule of early-to-bed and early-to-rise,
which keeps him fresh for his job, but more importantly allows him to spend his
time in Morocco with the beautiful and tempestuous Nita eating out, dancing 'til
all hours, and making love. Henry's "paradise" begins to show cracks,
however, when Nita starts to exhibit some domestic desires and Maud shows signs
of enjoying a more bohemian lifestyle.

The Ladykillers -- Professor Marcus rents a room in the house of
elderly Mrs. Wilberforce and gets her permission to allow four of his friends to
come by occasionally for music practice. The reality, however, is that Marcus is
a criminal mastermind and his music-playing friends are his gang. The five carry
out a daring robbery and then involve Mrs. Wilberforce in moving the stolen
goods into her house, unknown to her. When Marcus and his gang divide the money
and try to leave, Mrs. Wilberforce realizes what they have done when one of the
gang members accidentally drops his musical instrument case, revealing part of
the stolen money. The gang then decides it must kill the old woman if they are
all to get away safely, but who's going to do it and how?

The Evidence

The Alec Guinness that we get in these five films conveys a different image
to the one that is associated with the big international films of his later
years. Yet in these early films, we see the versatility that would make him such
a success and such a pleasure to watch. Never what one would call a physical
actor, he was able to convey an incredible range of emotions and embody
distinctly different characters through a combination of facial expression, body
language, and vocal intonation. Hence his success at playing eight different
characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets; the meek but sly bank official of
The Lavender Hill Mob; the shy scientist in The Man in the White
Suit; the superior ship's captain of The Captain's Paradise; and the
smug, but quite silly-looking gang leader in The Ladykillers. Of all
these roles, it is probably the one in The Captain's Paradise that is
closest in nature to the intelligent, strong-willed characters that he played in
later films such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Tunes of Glory,
H.M.S. Defiant, Lawrence Of Arabia, and so on.

In 1949, Guinness was approached to play four different characters in
Kind Hearts and Coronets. (He liked the screenplay so much that he asked
and was allowed to play all eight members of the D'Ascoyne family.) The film was
his first for Ealing Studios and followed two successful outings in David Lean
films based on Charles Dickens novels (Great Expectations [1946] in which
he played Herbert Pocket, and Oliver Twist [1948] in which he was almost
unrecognizable as Fagin). Kind Hearts and Coronets is essentially a black
farce of a kind not previously seen in Britain and it impressed most critics of
the time. The lead role of Louis Mazzini is actually played with great flair by
Dennis Price, but it is Guinness that people most remember. Guinness himself
liked the part of the Vicar D'Ascoyne the best, but most of his eight
impersonations are memorable, especially Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne, who dies when a
hot air balloon is downed by an arrow shot by Mazzini. The film also is a good
introduction to Ealing's stock company of British actors, notably the likes of
Joan Greenwood (she of the sultry, spooky voice who plays Sibella) and Miles
Malleson (a fussy hangman who allows his poetry to delay Mazzini's hanging).
Valerie Hobson adds a touch of class in her portrayal of Edith D'Ascoyne.
Recently, Kind Hearts and Coronets was voted #6 on the British Film
Institute's list of the favourite British films of all time.

Guinness followed up this film with another Ealing comedy entitled A Run
for Your Money that was less successful. Thereafter he fell into the pattern
he would tend to follow for most of his career -- alternating film roles with
work on the stage in London's West End. He did not return to Ealing until two
years later when he then appeared in two films for the company. The first of
these was The Lavender Hill Mob, which opened in June 1951. Guinness had
the lead role of the timid bank employee who turns out to be a criminal
mastermind. He was equally convincing suggesting either side of the character.
The film is a droll caper tale (written by T.E.B. Clarke, who won an Oscar for
his efforts) that is quintessentially British in its characterizations of the
gang members in the persons of Stanley Holloway, Sidney James (of "Carry
On" fame), and Alfie Bass. The story has a nicely built set-up followed by
a whirlwind finale, all framed by a neat Rio de Janeiro sequence that provides a
satisfying ending. Look for a brief appearance by a young Audrey Hepburn during
the film's opening sequence. The film was named the British Film Academy's best
film of 1951.

Guinness's second Ealing film in 1951 was The Man in the White Suit.
It offered a fine combination of satire and social comment in connection with
the textile industry. Guinness is a pleasure to behold as the innocent,
blank-faced inventor who blithely blows up a laboratory several times in his
patient approach to developing the perfect fibre. Like his previous film, it
starts with a gradual build-up and leads to a comparatively frantic conclusion,
except that this time, there is a little coda at the end which suggests that the
story is not yet over. With this film, Guinness had achieved a reputation for
versatility that made it possible to accept him in virtually any role. Once
again, he was ably backed up by the Ealing stock company, which was well
represented with Joan Greenwood again, the redoubtable Cecil Parker, Miles
Malleson, and Patric Doonan. The veteran Ernest Thesiger appears to advantage as
the grand old man of the British textile industry.

During the next three years, Guinness would make a variety of both serious
and comedic films elsewhere than at Ealing Studios. Probably the best comedy of
this period is 1953's The Captain's Paradise. The level of amusement
seemed a little more forced than in the Ealing comedies, but the results were
still above average. Once again, Guinness had the opportunity to play two
characters (actually one character with two distinct sides to him) and succeeded
admirably. He even attempts a little physical humour when he does the tango with
Nita. The film lacks the comfortable Ealing supporting character actors, but
does offer us the chance to see the always-reliable Celia Johnson (of Brief
Encounter fame) as Maud and Yvonne De Carlo as Nita. On-location shooting in
Gibraltar and Morocco is a plus.

In 1955, Guinness returned to Ealing for what would be his second-last
appearance there. (His last one was 1957's Barnacle Bill.) The
Ladykillers was another dark comedic effort and a return to the Ealing glory
days with a film that was the company's last really fine comedy. Here, Guinness
plays a criminal gang leader who sports some fake teeth and stringy hair that
make him seem somewhat ridiculous, but he manages to pull off the part quite
successfully. Although he is first billed, the film is an ensemble effort from
Guinness and the other gang members (played by Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Danny
Green, and Peter Sellers in an early role), and especially Katie Johnson as Mrs.
Wilberforce. Johnson actually has the largest part and she steals the film
handily, later winning the 1955 British Film Academy Best Actress award for her
efforts. Take note of the railway tracks that appear prominently in the film's
opening shot. They play a rather important role in the last half of the
film.

Guinness's work on all five films is aided immeasurably by the fine British
crews of the time. Directors included Alexander Mackendrick (The Man in the
White Suit, The Ladykillers), Charles Crichton (The Lavender Hill
Mob), and Robert Hamer (Kind Hearts and Coronets) -- all of whom
seemed to have a deft touch with comedy, keeping the tone light, while moving
the films along briskly. The writing too was first rate, with one of the scripts
winning an Oscar (as noted above) and most of the others receiving nominations
for both Oscars and British Film Academy awards.

If you are a fan of comedy films in general and British comedy in
particular, you'll want to have all five of these titles. If you're an Alec
Guinness appreciator, you'll also want all five of these titles. Is one better
than another? That's strictly a personal judgment. If you look at the
literature, the consensus would seem to suggest that Kind Hearts and
Coronets is the best while The Captain's Paradise is the least of the
group. Personally, I'm very partial to The Lavender Hill Mob with The
Ladykillers not far behind.

Anchor Bay has come up with a set of five discs that is quite pleasing. The
source material is very good in each instance, with all discs looking clean and
free of significant debris. The Ladykillers is the only title in both
colour and widescreen, presented here in a 1.66:1 anamorphic transfer. The
colour is very fine indeed, not quite as dynamic as the best Technicolor
efforts, but bright and fairly vibrant. There is a tendency towards being a
little dark at times and flesh tones are overly red on occasion, but the overall
effect is very pleasing. The other four titles are black and white and presented
full frame as originally made. All four transfers are very crisp with deep
blacks and good shadow detail. The intense whites of The Man in the White
Suit are well handled. Edge enhancement is not an issue on any of these
transfers and all five exhibit a nice film-like appearance.

All five titles are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono that generally
provides a good, clear soundtrack in each case. Kind Hearts and Coronets
and The Lavender Hill Mob are perhaps slightly below the others in level
of clarity. Hiss is noticeable only very briefly. A French mono track is also
available on all titles with the exception of The Captain's Paradise.
There are no subtitles on any disc, although each is closed-captioned.

Supplements are the same on each disc. There is a very complete biography of
Alec Guinness and the theatrical trailer for the film. The disc insert pamphlet
contains a good two-page set of production notes and a lobby-card
reproduction.

Closing Statement

Anchor Bay comes through again with a marvelous collection of five of Alec
Guinness's early British comedies -- most of them made at Ealing Studios. The
films are great. The DVD transfers are quite fine. There are hours of repeatable
enjoyment to be had. What's to decide? Go out and buy them. Unreservedly
recommended.

The Verdict

The defendant is not guilty on all counts. The court commends Anchor Bay on
its initiative and being greedy, asks that the company seek out other British
gems of the 1940s and 1950s to release on DVD.